Tropical Paradise
Written: Dec 01 '08
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Product Rating:
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Pros: Beach, pool, food, drinks, entertainment, friendly staff
Cons: Poor English, hard to get reservations, problems with power, check in, problems in room
The Bottom Line: I had a great trip and am confident anyone would.
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| smartone86's Full Review: Melia Caribe Tropical - All Inclusive |
My extended family and I recently spent a week at the Melia Caribe Tropical. We had a great time, and I'd highly recommend it to anyone.
Initial Impressions
The resort is gorgeous. It's right on the beach. It's meticulously maintained. The landscaping and architecture is breath taking. There's a bar serving up fresh cool drinks as soon as you get off your bus, and a fish pond with bridges over it and cushioned chairs to relax in with your drink. I knew right away this was going to be a great trip.
Checking In
We did not pay for the Royal Service (RS) upgrade. It's my understanding that you get a better check in experience if you do. Good, because ours was nightmarish. I had read that check in is slow online before going. There was only one couple there to check in before us when we got there. I figured we would get lucky and have a quick check in.
Wrong. It. Took. For. Ever. They couldn't find my paper work. Then they did. Oh wait, this is someone else's. They tried to tell me I didn't have a reservation. They told me my receipt was the wrong one. The reception desk staff would say something like, "Uh oh, then go gabber at other staff in Spanish, right in front of me, which I found rude. The check in process was confusing. "Leave your bags here. No! Bring them with you!"
For an all inclusive resort, they start selling you things right away. What a safe in your room? That will be an extra $2 a day. They also pester you to sign up for a sales talk about time shares.
Once that was over, however, things improved.
My Room
I stayed in a Deluxe Junior Suite. It was spacey, and had two double beds. It also had a couch, lazy-boy type chair, table, bathroom, closet, and small deck area with two chairs and a table. It had a TV, and a mini-bar stocked with soda and water bottles (you cannot drink the water, so plan on using this for everything from drinking to coffee to brushing your teeth). It had a blow dryer in the bathroom, and a coffee maker near the TV. The closet stowed an iron and ironing board. A ceiling fan was present.
I could not, however, find extra pillows or blankets in my room. In fact, there were no blankets at all, the bed was just made with two sheets. You can also forget about wash clothes- those were no where to be found. The room also lacked lotion, causing me to moisturize myself with vasoline I brought all week.
Internet access is available in room, but quite costly, a around $10/hr. It's my understanding that internet is included for the RS guests.
The bathroom was a nice size, and very clean, however, there was still garbage in the can in there when I got there. The was odd, to me. There was amble toilet paper and big, fluffy towels in there to my delight. I was disappointed with my shower, however. I had only luke warm water my first night, which actually felt nice after wearing jeans in the 95 degree weather. After bringing this to a manager's attention, it was addressed. The shower did feel small to me, and I found myself getting in and getting out quickly as I felt "strangled" by the curtain, which was almost too big for the shower. I also had an unnecessary fear of drinking the water, a la Sex in the City style by accident.
Two couples in our party had no hot water upon arrival, and one couple had flooding in their room, and one couple had a broken toilet. All of the issues got addressed in a timely fashion.
My room cleaning seemed to vary considerably from day to day. Some days it would be done at 8am, others not until 5pm. Some days my room was meticulously clean. Others I came back to a visibly dirty bedroom and sheets that obviously were haphazardly pulled up, versus replaced. Some days my mini-bar got refilled, others it didn't (I refilled it a few times by asking the nearest bartender for bottled water). Some days I came back to fewer towels than I had before.
Electric Issues
The power was very unreliable at the resort. For starters, the light switch situation was extremely confusing. There were maybe 20 switchs in the room. It took a miracle to get the right combination to get the lighting you desired. The power seemed "weak." I would leave my iPod plugged in overnight and it would barely charge at all, when one hour plugged in would take care of it at home. There were many, many power outages. Maybe half a dozen a day, and I'm not exaggerating. I woke up a few nights sweating because my power was off, meaning no fan and no AC. I'm an insulin dependent diabetic and feared for my insulin's condition in the 95 degree weather with a fridge only powered half the time. Luckily, it seemd okay. The power outages didn't last long, but were extremely frequent.
The Pool
I realize at this point some may be wondering where the redeeming qualities come in. This is where.
The pool was huge and one of the most gorgeous I've ever seen. The pool was meticulously maintained, with never a hint of dirt or garbage in it. It had a "jacuzzi" area in the middle (only the water wasn't hotter than the rest of the pool), very shallow areas for sunbathing while letting the water wash over you, several kiddie pools, a swim up bar, water aerobics classes (these were fun!), amble lawn chairs, many shady awnings, and gorgeous landscaping. The water was a perfect temperature- I'd guess 85 degrees. It was enough to cool you off, but still felt warm.
There were several pools, so none of them were ever really crowded.
My only complaint about the pool area was that the tile surrounding it became extremely slippery when wet. A few of us almost took a nose dive, even before hitting the bar.
The Beach
The beach also couldn't be nicer. The sand was perfectly white, and the water perfectly blue (though not as clear as I expected). There was again amble lawn chairs and shady coverings. There were bars along the beach to keep your pina colidas fresh. The sand was the softest sand I've ever felt. You were also never far from snacks on the beach, with restaurants lining the beach.
Food and Drinks
Oh boy, where do I start here? The food and drinks were exceptional, and you were never far from it. Bars were everywhere, and the bartenders could easily and quickly whip up any drink you desire and evern suggest new ones. The icey drinks never stayed icey very long in the heat, though. Without the RS upgrade you were stuck drinking tap beer. Presidente is the only beer you could find, but it was good.
The food was amazing. Breakfast and lunch were buffet style with a variety of foods, at a variety of locations. Fruit, juices, cheese, and all kinds of pastries were readily available. A coffee machine produced all kinds of brews at the push of a button. There were also some odd foods available at all times of day, like hot dogs and nacho chips, even at breakfast. Breakfast featured an omlette grill, which was incredible.
Lunch always had some specialty dish available (like a pig roast), pizza available, and soups available. Cold cuts and a variety of fish were also readily available. Deserts were plentiful and included ice cream, brownies, and cakes.
Dinner was the best, though. There were a variety of restaurants to choose from- American, Dominican, Mexican, Thai, Japanese, Seafood (best Mahi Mahi I've ever had), Italian (I'm told the lamb was to die for here), French (I had chicken with goat cheese and spinich here- very good), and I even think I'm missing some. Reservations were necessary and hard to get. I understand this also improves with the RS upgrade. If you couldn't get a reservation, the Market Place buffet was open without reservations. All 17 of the members of my family were able to eat together one night. Ironically, while it was next to impossible to get reservations some nights, when we did go out to dinner the restaurants were half empty. We concluded they must try and force guests to spread out evenly amongst all of the restaurants. The food was outstanding, and some of the restaurants, like the Japanese, were very interactive and fun. Decent wine and champagnes were available included, and there was a priced wine list (which we never used). No one batted an eye when my buff guy cousin ordered more than one meal on occassion. My favorite desert was fried ice cream from the Japanese restaurant. I wish we could have stayed longer just so I would have had time for all of the restaurants.
Thank God, the indoor restaurants were air conditioned.
Entertainment
There was a lot to do at the resort. Some of it was included (non motorized water sports (paddle boats, sailing), a climbing wall, and nightly entertainment (starting at 10, which I found it hard to make it too after being in the sun since 9am and drinking since noon). There was also an onsite casino
Non-included activities included a horseback riding tour, Segway tours, a ropes course, snorkeling, and various other things. Of those, my family did the ropes course. At $10 this was a great value. It had zip lines, tight ropes, and all kinds of obstacles to go through. It took about an hour to make it through the course and was a lot of fun. While I'm sure it wouldn't meet US safety regulations, the guys running it were patient, knowledgable, and I felt safe. I did it two days in a row, and had a blast. Pretty much my whole family did it and we all had a great time on it.
The nightly entertainment I did make it too was elaborate and entertaining, including loud music, stilts, dancing, and strobe lights.
Tipping
The resort's website states that tips are included, but I generally found that tips were expected and appreciated.
Staff
The staff was friendly and helpful, but often hard to understand. Many of them spoke no English at all, which made things difficult. The English skill varied widely from none to immaculate English and everything in between. Asking of unusual things like a glass of soda with no ice was difficult. Most of the housekeeping staff fell in the no English at all category. Most of the bartending staff spoke excellent English.
Transportation
The resort is expansive and difficult to navigate. By the end f my trip I could find my way from my room to the beach, pool, or restaurants on foot. It was about a 15 minute walk anywhere. They had a 10/10 corney "train" you could ride, but with many stops, and only one route it followed, it took time to get anywhere. The best way to get anywhere was by flagging down one of many people driving golf carts. We tipped these people.
Summary
This resort is solidly four-star. It was overall excellent, but had many glitches that made is less than perfect. None of these would ruin a trip.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
smartone86
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Reviews written: 71
Trusted by: 3 members
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